Ordination and Exploring Washington DC.

For the last few days I have been having ordination in Arlingtion which is just outside Washington DC. After goodbyes we all set off to go to our families. 

Here's what went down at ordination.

On Tuesday morning we all met for breakfast. During breakfast we all introduced ourselves andtold everyone where we are going. After breakfast we went into the meeting room and we wrote ourself a letter with our goal and what we want to achieve this year. We will get these letters at the end of the year. Which will be really interesting. After that we went through materials and information that we needed to know. At lunchtime we where joined by two au pairs who are based in the Washington DC area to ask questions to. After lunch we had a lady talk to us about child development and what actives and what to do with the children we will be looking after. 

At about 3.30 we all went on to the metro and went into the centre of Washington DC. I'm pretty sure we all stuck out as we were being all touristy. We all tried to stay as a group so we could get an group picture outside the White House but as we were such a huge group of course we lost everyone. I stuck with what I knew and hung out with the other au pairs from the UK. 

(The White House it was really sunny I've just got a filter on)

(Outside the White House)

 

(By the monument)

(Riding the metro)

Once we saw what we wanted to do we went back to Arlington and had dinner at The Melting Pot. If you haven't been to a melting pot I highly recommend you find one. What is The Melting Pot and why is it so good I hear you cry! It is a cheese fondee place, where you choose what kinda of cheese you want and you get bread, vegetables and apples to dip into the cheese (surprising apple works and tastes really good) They also do chocolate fondee and of course you've got to go and have that too. Then we went to have a drink in the world of beer. We went back to the hotel feeling very full after a good day!

 

(Our cheese fondee) 

(Our chocolate fondee)

On Wednesday we all had breakfast again together and we discussed what we did yesterday afternoon in DC. After breakfast we went into the meeting room and we carried on going through the information that we needed to know, until about 10 where the lady who was doing our first aid course came in and we started on that as this would take the whole day (cut a long story short, we all passed even if we looked like we were falling asleep). After a day of sitting in a room with someone talking to you we decide that we were to exhausted that we decide to stay local and so we went to have Chinese. It was pretty good. But of course when you in America there big. But I learnt that at camp. Then as it was the last night we all arrange to meet up again for a drink. Well that didn't happen so me, Rachael and Ruth had one last British (well it was American but we are British) drink together. We then headed back to the hotel for the last time. 

( I promise I will post pictures other than food) 

Thursday, so today is the day that we all go our separate ways and go to our families. This morning we met for breakfast and finished of orientation. We had a group shot and then we headed off too our families.

After me emptying half of my stuff from my suitcase on to my carry on to avoid spending $100 as it was over by 4ibs I got to my gate and boarded my flight to Ariziona. 

Next stop Scottsdale, Ariziona! 

Goodbye Rainy England, Hello America

Said goodbye to England and hello to my second home America.

It was a little bit sad leaving my Dad at the airport and not to be knowing that I will be seeing him in a few months like I have done in the past.

But that was that and I boarded my plane and it was up up and away. It was weird to know that I was going to America but not be going to Camp. I was half expecting people from camp to be there at the other end.

When I got to America. It was the normal stuff of going through immigration,(which I've never seen so busy) getting my bag (which I can hardly move, the wheels are struggling) and then it was the big task of finding the other girls who were also on the programme with me. That in itself is a challenge as we have no idea what each other looks like. But I managed to trace down Ruth (who is from Wales) then we waited around to see if we could spot anyone else that looked a bit lost. We found Jaqueline (who is from Germany) and we were just about to give up on waiting on people as some people had already gone to the hotel and some where still making their way to Washington, DC. When Jenyffer (who is from Colombia) came up to us and asked if we where CHI aupairs. 

We all decide that we would head to the hotel. After confusing the poor man at the shuttle bus desk with giving him too much money! We found the right shuttle bus and we headed on our way to the hotel. After we checked in, we got given a notebook with all the information in (my first thought was how on earth am I meant to fit that in by bag to take it to Arizona) I was struggling enough as it was! 

After we settled in a bit we went to explore and find some food but being labour day there wasn't much open. Then we went back to the hotel and we depart our different ways. 

Few Days to go!

Today is Saturday and I go on Monday. 

Packing is getting there although I'm pretty sure that I will probably forget something very important or its going to be way over my weight limit, that I have for my bag which is 23kg. If you know me then that in itself is a big challenge.

 Even though I've been to America twice, the nerves are kicking in but I'm pretty excited what is to come. There is a lot of things that I'm going miss while I'm in America! (I managed to cope at camp but that was less time than I'm gonna be out there this time) 

1) Good old cadburys chocolate. (American chocolate isn't the same)

2) Fish and Chips and other British food.

3) My old man.

4) This crazy lot.

5) And this lovely lady.

6) BBC iplayer (especially the Great British Bake Off) how am I gonna know who won! 

7) London and this lovely lady! 

8) Views like this 

9) Days like this with this lot

10) And this lovely lot.

One thing I'm not gonna miss is the unneeded hype of the xfactor as it counts down the Saturdays until Christmas.

Also I'm not gonna miss the British weather.

Now to enjoy a take away and do a last few packing stuff tomorrow. 

One Week!

So I thought I would try keep a blog about my au pairing adventures over the next year. I tried to think of a more exciting name but I couldn't.

For those of you that aren't up to date with my life. I'm off to the big old US of A to au pair for a family (twin girls aged 9)  in Scottsdale, Arizona for a year. I've skyped the family once and I have sent a few emails to them. Other than that I have no idea what I have signed myself up for.

But I go in a week today which is even more scary as I feel like I've got a lot to do. Here's a list...

1.  I've got to pack. I've got one bag to put all the stuff that I may need for a year and its got to weigh under 23kg (50ibs).
2. Catch up and see friends and family that I won't see for a while.
3. Eat all the cadbury's chocolate I can (without making myself sick).
4. Eat any other food that I may miss.
5. Make sure I have any important documents that I may need.
6. Read through all the information that I need to and make sure I've done everything I need to do.
7. Treat myself to a new ipod as I've got loads of Tesco clubcard vouchers so why not. The vouchers would only go out of date if not.
8. Sort out the hot mess that is my bedroom from after camp.

I tried to think of ten things that I needed to do but I only got to 8.......

So next Monday I fly out to Washington DC, I have orientation there for 4 days and then on Thursday I fly to Phoenix, to start my adventure.